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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey family. Welcome to day 175. We are continuing our trek through the book of second kings. Okay, today we've got three chapters. We've got chapter 12, we got chapter 13, we got chapter 14. And so if you've done the reading, everything that I'm going to say is going to make total sense. If you skip the reading, if you're trying to use this episode as substitute for the reading, you're not going to have the context to really know what we're talking about. So if you are trying to do that, hey, you may want to stop the video, pause the audio, go read 2 Kings chapter chapters 12 to 14 and then come on back. Like always, I'm going to give you some context clues. I'm always going to give you nerdy nuggets and I'm going to leave you with a timeless truth. We got an action packed three chapters. Okay, so let me give a little bit of an overview. This is going to feel like context clues, but also just a little bit of an overview. Okay, so chapter 12, we're going to be in Judah. I think that one of the things that's, you know, can be confusing as you're reading, you may even want to read 1, 2 Kings. This helped me a lot with a map, all right. And like with a timeline, because geography and dates can be hard to keep track of as you're just reading, you know, words. Right. Whereas you may want to visualize this stuff. So just to give you some context, always going to try to give you context clues. I want to situate you in the text. So chapter 12, the big focus in chapter 12 is Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah. Okay, chapter 13, we're going to go up to Israel, Okay. We're going to go to the northern king of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel, and Elisha is going to actually die. All right? And then in chapter 14 we're actually gonna talk about Amaziah, king of Judah and Jeroboam the second king of Israel. Okay. So if you just wanna know where we're going, okay, chapter 12, we're in Judah with Joash and the high priest Jehoiada, who actually is going to raise Joash if you remember from yesterday, Joash has to be hidden by. I believe it's his aunt. Okay? He's hidden in the temple, okay? Which means a man by the name of Jehoiada is actually going to raise him. He's guided by a high priest by the name of Jehoiada. Joash wants to repair the temple of the Lord, which is. Now, this could be that he just wants to repair this because he loves the Lord. It could just mean that he wants to repair this because it's a monument. It's a. It's a national landmark. All right? You can't just insert religious or spiritual meaning just because a king wants to repair the temple. Obviously, the temple had fallen into disrepair during the years of Athaliah's adulterous rule. Now, here's where the rule of Joash is gonna take a turn. He's gonna rely on external alliances and. And all that money. What we're gonna see in the first part of chapter 12 is there's this building fund that's gonna happen to repair the temple. And then he actually goes into the temple, strips all the gold, and uses the money in the temple to pay for foreign powers to protect him. This is a big no, no, okay? This is a problem. This is not good. Joash bribes Hazael, King of Aram, with money from the temple. His rule ultimately ends in assassination by his own servants, marking tragic end to a reign that started with promise. Now, I want you to remember, okay, when kings are assassinated or when they get leprosy, or when they have terminal illnesses, not for common people, but for kings and for prophets. Deaths like that, assassinations, violent deaths, illnesses, leprosy, terminal illnesses. These are signs that they've broken covenant with Yahweh. This is typically judgment. Now, I don't want you to hear that and go, does God judge everyone like that? No, Actually, based on Deuteronomy, one of the promises of covenant being kept was that kings and prophets and priests and leaders would experience a long life, fruitful life. And so when you start to see kings get assassinated and their lives cut short or they die really violent deaths, or they're sick with terminal illnesses or leprosy, that's a sign that there's some judgment from God. Okay, chapter 13, we're going. And I'll get into some more kind of. I'll get into nerdy nuggets a little bit later. Chapter 13. The action goes from Judah in the south to Israel in the north. We've got J. Hoahaz. Okay, this is the son of Jehu, the wild chariot rider, becomes king. He is evil. And I love this because God's mercy and his grace is gonna be on full display. I want you to. You know, you can read this if you got 2 Kings 13, 4. It says that Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Haram was oppressing Israel. This is grace. This is mercy. It doesn't even say that Jehoah has repented. It doesn't say that he tore down the high places. It just says that he sought the Lord's favor. Man, you know, anyone who wants to caricature Yahweh as someone who's just angry and upset through the Old Testament, I don't think they've read the Old Testament because this is an evil king. But he sees that God is allowing the king of Aram to oppress him and to oppress the people of Israel. He sought the favor of the Lord. And then, you know, two verses later, this is verse six. But they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam which he had caused Israel to commit. They continued in them. Also, the astral pole remained standing in Samaria. So we know that Jehoahaz seeks the favor of God, that God listens, but that Jehoahaz doesn't repent. And is God full of grace? Absolutely. But should his grace lead us to repentance? Absolutely. And God's grace here does not lead Jehoahaz into any repentance. And so his son is gonna become king. Okay, then Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, became king in Israel and Samaria. And then Jehoash is evil as well. However, even though he's evil, he. He is the king that is gonna go visit Elisha when he's on his deathbed. Sometimes when you get into 2 Kings 13, it's not clear exactly who what king of Israel is visiting Elisha on his deathbed. One of the things that you kind of need to know for context is that Elisha says, hey, grab an arrow, grab a bow, and we're gonna do this together. Now, I don't know if you've ever actually used a bow or used an arrow, but it's impossible to do it with another person. Yet supernaturally, the arrow actually flies. And the point of that whole story is to demonstrate that when the prophets and the kings are working in harmony with one another, there's always gonna be victory over the enemy. Okay, so Elisha Says, no, let's put my hands on your hands. And if you put your hands on top of another person's hands on a normal bow, if you and your friend go do that, the arrow's not going far. But the arrow goes far and defies natural law, because the prophet is actually making a statement that there is this harmonious, interdependent relationship between kings and prophets. And you can see this actually in books like First Samuel. Saul needs Samuel. Saul the king is desperate for Samuel's guidance. And you kind of don't know a good thing till you don't have it anymore. And then obviously, Samuel dies, and Saul tries to summon him up from the dead. Okay, you can also see Samuel dies. He's not really there to guide David. And David steers off. And then what does God do? He brings Nathan to get David back on course. So one of the helpful things, and we're actually in a couple of chapters from now, we're gonna see that Elisha's dying. And the death of Elisha is now gonna prompt all the other prophets. So we're gonna see Amos and Jonah and Isaiah. A lot of the prophetic books that we have in our Bibles are gonna be able to get plugged in to these time periods. So the Book of Kings is actually gonna show you where and when the prophets are prophesying. Some prophets are assigned to the northern kingdom of Israel. Some prophets are assigned to the southern kingdom of Judah. So you're gonna be able to see which prophets are prophesying to which kings. The prophets aren't just there for the people. The prophets are there to hold the king in check in the same way that we have checks and balances in our government. This is God's governing structure. And there have to be checks and balances. Okay? So when the prophet and the king are both pulling back the arrow, the arrow supernaturally is able to go far. And then Elisha dies. Elisha dies. And the way that God communicates that his word is so powerful is that they are putting a dead man in Elisha's grave, and the dead man comes back to life. Now, this is actually gonna prefigure something that Ezekiel the prophet is going to do, that the word of God is able to bring things that are dead back to life. Ezekiel is going to be standing in a valley of dry bones, and God is going to ask, can these dry bones live? And Ezekiel is going to say, lord, only you know to which God is going to say, prophesy, son of man. Prophesy. Prophecy has the ability to bring that which is dead back to life. This is why the miracles that accompany Elijah and Elisha are miracles of resurrection. They're able to bring dead people, dead humans back to life. And this is the power of preaching and prophesying and prayer. This is why we believe that church is powerful. You could walk into a church with a dead business, a dead marriage, a dead family, and hear the preaching of God's word, and those things begin to come back to life again. So that is the supernatural power of the proclaimed Word of God. And it's here in this story with a dead person getting thrown on the bones of Elijah and him coming back to life. Now there is, I also think, another theme happening there, which is that Elijah made sure that his mantle passed on to Elisha. But we don't see at the end of Elisha's life that his mantle goes on to anybody. So Elijah made sure that Elisha received a double portion of the spirit of God that was on him on the anointing of the Lord that was on him. But Elisha doesn't pay that forward. It's like this funny reel that I saw. You know, a girl gets up to a. To. To a drive through, and the person lets her know, oh, the car in front of you paid for you. And then, you know, they're like, do you want to pay for the car behind you? And she's like, what did they order? You know, it's like, he doesn't pay it forward. So Elijah made sure to pay it forward to Elisha. But Elisha doesn't make it make it pay it forward, which means the anointing of the Lord or the power of the spirit of God dies with Elisha, which is why a dead man is being, is able to get thrown on his bones and he come back to life. And man, my timeless truth, I know I'm kind of skipping ahead a little bit, but my timeless truth is I want to die empty, man. I want to pass the baton of faith on to the next generation. So two lessons, they can feel like maybe opposite lessons, but both lessons that I think we can get out of the story of Elisha. The word of God is able to bring things to life, but also, man, I don't. I don't. I want my miracles to be on this side of the grave. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold, literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location so you can Grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a Books a Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Anyway, okay, chapter 14. We're going to get Amaziah, who's in Judah, and we're going to get Jeroboam, who's in Israel. Okay? So Amazi is in the southern kingdom, and Jeroboam is in the northern kingdom. So Amaziah begins his reign faithfully. Okay? But later, his pride leads to unnecessary conflict with Israel and his eventual downfall. You may want to know what's happening there, and I'm going to give you some context. Okay, so two pieces of context with Amaziah. The first thing is Amaziah's adherence to the Mosaic law by not executing the children of his father's murderers is based on Deuteronomy 24:16. The fact that he stops at an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, okay? He does not exact vengeance on above and beyond the limit that God has set. Deuteronomy 24:16 says that the sins of the father shouldn't be visited on the children. And we've seen a lot of Kings killing a lot of people in the book of first and second Kings so far, but not Amaziah, okay? Amaziah has decided, I'm not gonna kill the children of my father's murderers, and I'm gonna obey Yahweh. I'm gonna obey the word of the Lord. This shows Amaziah's initial commitment to God's laws. Now, here's where, in order to get a full context on what's happening here, we actually need to go to the companion book of Kings, which is Chronicles, Second Chronicles, Chapter 25, Verse 14 and 17. And I'm sorry if I haven't said this sooner, but a lot of times when you don't really know why something has happened in Kings, Chronicles is actually repeating a lot of the same stories that happen in Kings, but it's happening from a different perspective. So here's what we get in 2 Chronicles chapter 25, verses 14 to 17. It provides context for 2 Kings, chapter 14. When Amaziah. I'm just gonna read 2 Chronicles. When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. So he's bringing idols back into Israel. He set them up as his own gods, bow down to them, and burned sacrifices to them. The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said, why do you consult this people's gods which could not save you? While he was still speaking, the king said to him, have we appointed you an advisor to the king? Stop. Why be struck down to the prophet stopped, but said, I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel. After Amaziah, king of Judah, consulted his advisors, he sent this challenge to Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel. Come, let us face each other in battle. So what's happening in Chronicles is actually giving you a bunch of context to the story that we have in Kings. So that is helpful. Okay, Helpful, helpful, helpful context that he's actually doing something really idolatrous. God is now against him, and that's what prompts what. Otherwise a pretty random action that we're going to get in two kings, chapter 14. More just kind of some nerdy nuggets. I'm going to kind of just give a bunch of nerdy nuggets really quickly. Jeroboam ii reigns for 40. Sorry, Jeroboam II? Yeah, I said Jeroboam II reigned for 41 years. This is one of the longest reigns of any king of Israel. His reign marked a period of political and economic strength, though spiritually, the nation continued its decline. So we can see this. What we know from history is that this is another king that's actually really, really successful. Does a lot of good economic strength, political strength. But as far as kings is concerned, he's a failure, man. And you're going to get this throwaway line over and over and over again through first, second kings, all the other things that they did, are they not written in the annals of the king of Israel or the annals of the king of Judah. You're going to see that as a repeated line over and over and over again, which is saying kings is not trying to tell you every single thing that a king did. The annals of the king of Israel or the annals of the king of Judah are going to tell you all the daily diary and the meeting minutes, you know, like, it's going to have the record of all the decisions they made and all the rulings and all the judgments and all that stuff. That's not what 2 Kings is. Which means for us, we look at 2 Kings like it's history. But this is not history. The annals of the King of Israel would be history. The annals of the King of Judah would be history. This is not history because the author has an agenda. So the author is going to omit all the economic and political progress that Jeroboam II makes and is going to say he's a failure. Why? Because the author of Kings only cares about one thing. Did you worship idols? Did you cause Israel to follow after Yahweh wholeheartedly? Did you follow Deuteronomy? Did you obey God? Or did you disobey God? Did you trust idols? Okay, so Jeroboam is going to be a failure as it relates to the author of 2 Kings. But the annals of the kings of Jeroboam or the annals of the King of Israel or the annals of the King of Judah may give Jeroboam a thumbs up. And man, I don't want to be winning in categories that God doesn't care about man, as a person. I don't want to win in ministry. But then God go, yeah, but you failed as a dad. Okay, I don't want to win and have some amazing podcasts, but my own wife and my son don't know the Lord. How dare we love keeping score with scorecards that just aren't the scorecards that God's using. And so one of the things that's real, I mean, this is a consistent theme, is that you could be killing it. Now, there are times in the book of 1 and 2 kings where because people are failing spiritually, God then causes them to fail economically or fail militarily or fail politically. But then there are these anomalies like Jeroboam, where they're failing spiritually, they're failing religiously, but still racking up wins politically and economically. And, man, I just don't want that to be my life. I don't want to be someone who's losing in the categories that matter, but winning in categories that only matter to me. And so, okay, couple more nerdy nuggets. Okay, Jehoiada, this is back up to chapter 12. Jehoiada lived to be 130 years old. 2 Chronicles 24:15 actually tells us that making him one of the longest lived figures in this section of the Bible. His extended life allowed him to guide Joash through the early part of his reign, providing stability and wisdom in a period of religious and political transition. Then I wanna just give a nerdy nugget for Elisha's title. When Elisha's dying, the king of Israel calls him the chariots and horsemen of Israel. This is 2 Kings 13. Joash's reference to Elijah as the chariots and horsemen of Israel number one, is a callback to Elijah's death, but also it symbolized the prophet's spiritual role as Israel's true defense. What does God say over and over? Don't put your trust in horses or in chariots. Why? Because Elisha, one man is surrounded by physical horses and chariots, but can see that there are angelic horses and chariots. So the prophet is actually your true line of defense, not the physical horses and chariots. Just as Elisha's presence protected Israel from Aram's military forces, this phrase emphasizes that the nation's real power rested in God's protection, not military might. Couple more. Those are all my nerdy nuggets, all right? And this is my timeless truth force for today, says this Joash. This is one of the things that I realized back in chapter 12. Okay? Joash was faithful to God as long as Jehoiada guided him, but after Jehoia's death, his faith wavered. This reminds us that true faithfulness is not dependent on circumstances or individuals, but must be grounded in a consistent personal relationship with God. Joash's decision to bribe Hazael with the temple treasures instead of seeking God's help shows the dangers of placing trust in human solutions rather than divine intervention. Trusting in human alliances can lead to spiritual and moral compromise. Now, that was my official timeless truth of the day, but I feel like I kind of weaved some timeless truths in as we were going. So like always, I made sure to give you a lot of context because our context clues help us a lot. I hope I gave you a lot of nerdy nuggets. And I think I probably gave maybe two, if not three Thomas truths in there. I hope you're enjoying Two Kings. We're gonna keep trekking along. Tomorrow we've got day 176, and we're gonna keep our journey going through the Book of Two Kings. Action packed book of the Bible. It can be easy to lose track of what's going on. So my goal is to situate you, orient you, and to help you enjoy this incredible book of the Bible. If you're on a streak. I'm so proud of you. If you're not, let's start one. I love you. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 176. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.